"It was a huge stop, and then it was a huge drive to take it down and score," Carroll coach Alan Schuckman said. "Those two things kind of gave our confidence back."

Carroll had missed multiple first-half opportunities. Kapaun fumbled the opening kickoff and Carroll recovered it at the Crusaders' 17 — but missed a 33-yard field goal just 50 seconds in.

The Eagles' second possession started at the Kapaun 36 — and ended when Jack Martin intercepted Carroll quarterback Zeke Palmer at the Kapaun 14 seven minutes into the game.

"We were struggling big time," said Palmer, who threw for 96 yards, but had minus-15 rushing at the half. "It seemed like every play, someone missed something, including me. I missed a lot. And our offensive line missed something. Every single play, someone didn't do their job, and it affected us."

Kapaun used a physical running game and put together an 11-play drive, capped by Nathan Degenhardt's 13-yard pass to Austin Griffith for a 7-0 lead with 5:49 remaining in the first half.

"We overcame that mistake early on, (overcame) field position, and when we fought through that first quarter scoreless, that was a big thing," Kapaun coach Dan Adelhardt said. "We dodged some bullets, played well."

While Carroll's coaches implored the Eagles not to panic at halftime, to simply cut down on their mistakes and execute, Carroll opened the second half by fumbling the kickoff.